To be a disciple is to walk the high road of the Gospel. It is to traverse the royal road of love, to be a person of compassion, to summon forth justice in season and out, to embody the very forgiveness of God and to incarnate the reconciliation which is God's ultimate goal in creation. Thus, discipleship is a journey, following Jesus of Nazareth, through the nightmare that is often our world into the dream that God intends for us and all creation.”

St. Alban’s shares Bishop’s Curry vision to be a people who desire to live God’s dream, walking the high road of the Gospel. We are all pilgrims in this journey who desire to continually add fellow pilgrims to our company.

Come and journey with this community of joyful pilgrims committed to the forward mission of the Gospel of Christ. If we can assist you in your own spiritual journey in any way, please let us know.

David+

December 2008

Letter from the Rector

For 2009, good friend and Senior Warden Peter Macon, the Vestry and I cast before you the following vision, which we hope you will embrace and work to make happen at St. Alban’s:

              1)  We envision that the majority of members will seek and experience a “spiritual wholeness” in their lives, a wholeness which integrates effectively and meaningfully the areas of family, vocation, recreation, and faith.

              2)  We envision that by the end of the year we will have worked through professionally and spiritually all aspects of site development and improvement for the near future, including needs assessment, appropriateness and timing of a capital campaign, and, architectural designs for the next phase.  

              3)  We envision that the majority of members will proactively seek an enrichment of their personal devotional lives, as part of their overall spiritual formation and in keeping with their own manner of relating to God through Christ.

              4)  We envision that throughout the year we will achieve measurable progress in continually upgrading all aspects of our administrative system, for example, staff effectiveness, space utilization, channels of communication, decision making and environmental friendliness.

              5) We envision that throughout 2009 and into the future our parish will be known, in the North Mecklenburg community and beyond, as a faith community which advances a progressive understanding of discipleship, faith & science dialogue, and the Arts.

              6)  We envision that the parents in our parish will feel very confident that their children are receiving high quality, balanced, age-appropriate faith development in a safe and fun-filled environment.

What would you add to this vision?   Which one or more of those can you best help us to realize?  What are your questions?   How can we on the staff team better serve you?   In difficult yet exhilarating times like these, how are you consciously lifting up your hearts to God?  As your Rector, again:  I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion….  Blessings, in Christ!                                                   --David E. Buck, D. Min.+

The Reverend David E. Buck, Rector

dbuck@gostalbans.org